couple pics... post what your currently cutting

[Plankton]

That job other then the wet looks like a nice place to pick up. I always try to keep it to 2 as well usually do long wood pulp or chordwood on bottom and top off with sawlogs. Sometimes that doesn't work out though lol especially if the processor operator is in a mood and spits it all in one pile  

[BargeMonkey]

One thing no one has said a word about  is at the end did you end up making any more after spending a million or more dollars on.machines and your eating up your timber alot faster .

I see a couple of these guys who are in over the 15-20 a month # and the fall comes so quick. Friend of mine is 12k deep right now and can't keep help, hes buying a buncher shortly. Im sweating spending 60k on a skidder and another used dozer right now, i can survive off pulpwood and firewood if i have to, trying to keep the debt low for when i do jump on a low hr 830B or a NEW loader. The wood is out there is you don't go nuts. Alot of this forum is regional, I go jump into a newer harvester / forwarder theres 4 other guys here who will take my lunch money the second i start bidding on state jobs, not even funny, Wadsworth, Sweeney and Reynolds put out a pile of wood alot of guys can never dream about and they are set up to do it. 1 mil bucks doesnt even get close. 2-3 gets you in the game and then you need 2-3 guys who want to work. 

[Walnut Beast]

Man you do nice work Barbender!! Nice video 👍

[ehp]

Barge , I was being nice at a million , been down this road before , use to run up to 7 skidders , 2 processors , dozers, log trucks and 37 guys , yes it made money but would I want to do that again at my young sexy age , not a chance . First off we do not have the amount of timber in this area to do it , next we donot have the sawmills to handle that much timber if we had it here and once the amount of timber being cut is more than what the mills need the price goes down , I have seen it alot more times it goes the other way than the good way . I think I have been logging down here now for about 12 years or very close to that and I may know 2 or 3 loggers if they stood before me and thats a big maybe . All I'm saying is if your going to jump in head first you better get to Walmart and buy yourself a pair of Big Girl panties and a couple rolls of duct tape and tape them on good and tight cause I know were going in be into a very bumpy ride here shortly 

[BargeMonkey]

Ed the problem ive got is im stuck in the middle, not big enough / fast enough to do the really big jobs, the small jobs I used to survive on aren't worth the move sometimes. Only reason I'm looking at growing is because of this work with Prentice, ive got an opportunity to have ALOT of wood in front of me. 
 Its been a rough 8wks, fight the snow, shouldnt be iron shopping but I am. Talked to my pulp man on Friday, he said Tuesday. Texts me at 7pm Sunday, "I'm coming in the morning and Tuesday then again Friday, your ready right" ? Yeah.... I will be ready 😆 I cut firewood all day Sunday, figured finish pulp off Monday, nothing like crawling into that loader at 2am so there's another load out by daylight... 


  I used to make a comfortable 6 digits working part time drinking coffee and verbally abusing grown men for a living, and then I decided to cut wood and own a gas station 🤷‍♂️ 


 

[Firewoodjoe]

I think you just need to go CTL to get down to 1 or 2 pieces of equipment. Between transport and maintaining all that you could be producing wood. They make some big impressive heads now a days. But big money to. There's a few 803s with the warahata heads around here. Good hardwood machine. 

[stavebuyer]

I would also caution anyone getting into serious financing to read the fine print as the lender generally does "own" you ,  takes a lien against all you have(even your previously paid for stuff as of the day you sign as well as whatever else you may buy after the fact). They also generally reserve the right to call those notes at their discretion. Seen some good people ruined by bankers that balked even though they were current on their payments.

The extra large guys I am familiar with seem to need legal counsel quite frequently and don't appear to loose any sleep over it.

[Firewoodjoe]

Yeah I'd be scared! But around here guys buy and buy. New small guys spend 100s of thousands. Just don't seem to bother them. 

[Walnut Beast]

Depends on what your using or what they want as collateral against what your buying. Don't have it tied to your land.  They can do many things but you have legal rights also. Depends if they are able to put a lien against like property and if they did as long as you don't sell it there not going to get any money

[Walnut Beast]

If the loan was against your land as collateral then they could force a sale if you didn't pay but if it wasn't tied to the equipment I doubt it.

[Firewoodjoe]

Well I hope I don't spend to much today. Off to the tax lady😬

[ehp]

I hope not as well. I got to get mine down here shortly . We're out here playing in the rain as its quite hard at times today . Weather is going to suck this week here 

[nativewolf]

@ehp same here.  Started as nice snow flurries.  Walk a mile back to harvest area and by that time it changed to freezing rain.  Bucked a few logs, topped up a few.  But then I'm soaked, sliding on everything.   I'll work in cold, in hot, in poison ivy, ticks, etc but in snow but freezing rain..blah, soaked, chilled, slipping on everything.  Better day for something else.  Back sitting by the fire with hot coco.  

[mike_belben]

Yeah I'd be scared! But around here guys buy and buy. New small guys spend 100s of thousands. Just don't seem to bother them.

Every so many decades those folks get wiped out.  Id rather stay out of debt and go through a lot of hot cocoa at home more than most people.

[ehp]

Ya no sitting at home for this old guy . Out here playing in the rain  snow  ice pellets and pretty strong wind down by the lake . Had my 462 on tailgate of my pickup and wind blew the saw right off . 

[nativewolf]

I may be a bit of a wimp :D.  Rain stopped, just cold and a bit wet so back at it, lucky this site is so close to home.  Be careful in that wind @ehp !

[Southside]

Had my 462 on tailgate of my pickup and wind blew the saw right off .

See - I have always said those Stihl saws are built too light... :D

[Firewoodjoe]

Well it's been pretty nice here. Did center pins and bearings in the forwarder over the weekend. Finished and hauled it back today after my taxes. We'll both survive another year! 😂 

[Haleiwa]

One thing no one has said a word about  is at the end did you end up making any more after spending a million or more dollars on.machines and your eating up your timber alot faster .

I see a couple of these guys who are in over the 15-20 a month # and the fall comes so quick. Friend of mine is 12k deep right now and can't keep help, hes buying a buncher shortly. Im sweating spending 60k on a skidder and another used dozer right now, i can survive off pulpwood and firewood if i have to, trying to keep the debt low for when i do jump on a low hr 830B or a NEW loader. The wood is out there is you don't go nuts. Alot of this forum is regional, I go jump into a newer harvester / forwarder theres 4 other guys here who will take my lunch money the second i start bidding on state jobs, not even funny, Wadsworth, Sweeney and Reynolds put out a pile of wood alot of guys can never dream about and they are set up to do it. 1 mil bucks doesnt even get close. 2-3 gets you in the game and then you need 2-3 guys who want to work.

One of the biggest risks of getting into a situation like that is having no choice but to work in conditions where you know you should park the rig.  Ice, deep snow, deep mud; all will damage equipment (and maybe operators), but if the money for the payment isn't in the checking account, it will seem like there is no choice but to risk it.  When a major machine gets put out of action for a month or two waiting on parts (or worse, money to pay for them) the hole only gets deeper.  I know of one farm that had a self propelled sprayer eat a hydraulic wheel drive, about 12 to 15 to repair, but instead they traded machines for well over 50 K boot money, just to roll over the financing rather than come up with the cost of the repairs, and didn't really get much of an improvement in the sprayer they were running, just deferred payment for a year.  Do that a time or two and all it takes is one bad year to put you in the "used to be" category.

[BargeMonkey]

 Starting that early isn't on my daily to do list but sometimes its got to happen. 


  It was only a white out snowstorm all afternoon, another 6-7" of snow, goodtimes. One of our guys breaking a hole in the #3-#4 crushed pile in hopes it will break up enough to haul and get the driveway put in on my job this week. 
 

 
 I hope everyone is sitting down because the rides just going to get worse. My cost on 87 went up .13 cents last week, ethanol free premium is going out of sight. 1yr ago I was buying gas for 1.14 during the start of Covid... probably see 3.00 gas in 10days. 


 

[Ljohnsaw]

probably see 3.00 gas in 10days

Regular here at my cheap place was $3.199 (yesterday).  Everywhere else $3.45!

[barbender]

👎👎 on the gas prices!

Here's the other part of my forwarding video, I had trouble uploading it- so part 1 is second🤷🏽‍♂️

Black spruce - YouTube

[Skeans1]

This is a wake up call for some of you guys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All saws are west coast dressed wraps, clutch covers, and dawgs the only one wearing oversized dawgs is the 500i they are Pro Safety 5 points. The 390 was pretty much empty same with the 372, well the 500i and 562 are both full of fuel and oil.

[mike_belben]

Video i strung together from clips that been in the phone for years.  Listen for my neighbors 12g blast at the exact time the first one hits the ground.   

Killin' Trees Compilation - YouTube

[nativewolf]

 

 
Getting some yellow poplar down, normal 4 log sort of stuff, not the largest but this area is too densely stocked.  Removing about 40% of basal area